A BORING SOLUTION

IT APPEARS that Ms Mullins (Don't deny cannabis harm, 8/4) and the bereaved
Kondinin parents (Dope destroyed our suicidal son, 31/3) are searching for
the wrong "solution" to their problems. They blame cannabis for mental
illness, addiction and death among some teenagers in WA.

Their thinking implies that cannabis should not be legalised because it
would cause more harm. But consider that in spite of its illegality, young
people are getting it anyway. Why not try what the Dutch did 30 years ago?
They reasoned that if young people want to use pot, then they'd make it
boring by tolerating it in controlled coffee shops. Now, Holland has half
the rate of cannabis use that my home, the prohibitionist US, has.

Keith Brilhart, Exton, Pennsylvania, US.